Making Maple Wine
TroubleShooting
Mark Wyman — Howard Lake, Minnesota asks,
I have been experimenting with maple sap to produce wine. Rather than adding water to maple syrup I reduced fresh sap to a potential alcohol of 10-12%. As there is very little if any acid present in the sap my pH needed more acid. I added twice the recommended amount of acid blend, and then juiced several lemons. The acid was still too low so I added the rinds in a straining bag to the must. The result was a lemonade containing alcohol. I tried again without the lemons and only the amount of acid blend as stated on the bottle. The result is flavorless other than a hint of lemon from the acid blend and has very little body. I back sweetened with maple syrup attempting to add some flavor but it quickly becomes too sweet yet still lacks flavor. How can I retain or enhance natural flavors and increase body?